Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who lived a month on fast food and lived to tell about it, screened his award-winning documentary Super Size Me to a super-sized crowd in Foellinger Auditorium Thursday night.

In the film, Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald’s food for 30 days, accepting whenever a McDonald’s employee asked him, ‘Would you like to super-size that?'”

“My liver filled with fat, my cholesterol went up 65 points, I gained 24 and a half pounds, my blood pressure shot off the charts,” Spurlock said. “It wasn’t pretty.”

Spurlock, now trimmed down to a healthy weight, got the idea for the film after watching McDonald’s spokesmen defend the restaurant chain after two girls sued the fast-food giant.

“And I said, ‘If it’s that good for me, shouldn’t I be able to eat it for 30 days straight and be fine?'” Spurlock said. “I was not a very aware consumer (before the film), and now I’m much more aware. I read labels, I pay attention to what I’m putting into my body. That’s something we all need to do every day.”

Spurlock visited campus as part of a fall tour to educate students about what they eat and encourage them to live healthier lifestyles.

“I hope people walk out of the lecture and the movie tonight and say, ‘You know, I need to take better care of me. I need to eat better, I need to exercise more,'” he said. “I came walking in here tonight and saw all the fast food restaurants that are here on campus … it’s incredible that when you’re studying late at night at 10 o’clock and you walk around campus, where are you going to go get an apple, banana, a piece of fruit – something that’s healthy?

“But what’s open? Oh my gosh, look, the McDonald’s is open, the Burger King is open, Taco Bell,” he said.

Shortly after Super Size Me was released, McDonald’s discontinued its “super-size” option. However, Spurlock said, “You have to take McDonald’s healthy choices with a grain of salt.”

Super Size Me, made for $65,000, has become the fourth-highest grossing documentary of all time in the United States and has brought in $27 million worldwide. Following Thursday’s presentation, Spurlock said he would fly to Pusan, South Korea, where Super Size Me has been entered in the Pusan Film Festival.

Hundreds of students lined up on the Foellinger steps Thursday night to see the movie.

“I hate McDonald’s. It’s very affiliated with corporate America,” said Fred Koschmann, senior in LAS. “I have a feeling (Spurlock) has figured out more what’s behind the (McDonald’s) value menu than most.”

“The idea that someone would eat McDonald’s for 30 days – I just think it’s interesting,” said Sara DiDomenico, sophomore in LAS.

Jonathan Lester, sophomore in business and frequent McDonald’s customer, said he was curious to see what Spurlock had to say.

“Hopefully he won’t gross me out because McDonald’s is feel-good food,” Lester said.

When Spurlock came on stage, he immediately spotted someone eating McDonald’s fries in the balcony.

“He’s having his little last supper of McDonald’s,” Spurlock said.

“You’re never going to eat that again,” he told the hungry offender. “Enjoy it, man, enjoy. This is the home stretch for you.”